


Secret weapon

by Nival_Vixen



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Awesome Erica, Bullying, Complete, Erica Feels, Erica-centric, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Happy Ending, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-werewolf Erica, Seizures, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Discovery, Self-Esteem Issues, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 11:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3066533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erica has a secret weapon and a super power all of her own, even before she becomes a werewolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret weapon

The video is posted online within minutes of her seizure. Erica doesn't know about it until later that night, when she's released from hospital and her parents are crowding her into their car to finally take her home. She's hungry and thirsty, but she's so exhausted that her desire to sleep overrides all of that. She fumbles in her schoolbag, trying to find where her phone was shoved when the teacher managed to put her things away - no friends to do it for her, and she tries not to think of that too much - and as soon as she turns the phone on, it starts beeping wildly, receiving more messages in the next minute than she has in the past year.

"Someone's popular," her dad says, voice strained though she can tell he's trying to be lighthearted.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry for the noise," Erica murmurs, turns the volume down on her phone so it's silent and waits for the influx of messages to stop receiving.

Every single message has a link to YouTube. The exact same link, and while Erica doesn't want to click it, her curiosity is enough to override anything else. She makes herself wait, wants to be home and alone in her room, because even though one stupid and naïve part of her wants to believe it's a mass 'get well soon!' message from her entire school, Erica sincerely doubts it. There haven't been any so far, so why start now?

When she's reassured her parents that she's okay, she's just exhausted and needs to sleep, they leave her to go to bed, and Erica only feels a little guilty as she turns on her laptop and hopes like hell that her parents won't hear the noise from downstairs. She still has a really old phone, a cheap version of a Nokia, though she's considering asking her parents for one of the new ones, thinks it'd be nice to be able to take photographs and maybe hang them up in her room. It'd help her do something nice and something normal, maybe she might even make some friends through photography. Maybe Stiles will talk...

 _No, don't do that to yourself_ , Erica tells herself sharply. She's too tired to think of Stiles and the mere possibility of him talking to her, like he sees her the way he sees Lydia Martin, or even just sees her at all.

Her browser finally open, Erica types in the address that everyone's sent her, biting her nail as the window loads. As soon as she sees the title for the video, Erica feels her stomach drop, the feeling she thinks might come from being on a rollercoaster (she wouldn't know, too many risks and dangers if she seizes mid-way through the ride, and her parents have never taken her to a theme park anyway), and she thinks she might throw up.

**Girl seizes and pisses herself.**

Right there, bold black writing on a white screen, staring and mocking her. A cold feeling rushes over her, her body covered in goosebumps as she presses play. The video already has around 100 hits. Erica doesn't want to watch it, she doesn't want to know or see what she looks like, but at the same time, she just can't help herself. _Maybe it's not as bad as she imagined it would be?_

She's wrong, so very, very wrong.

It obviously took someone a minute to realise that she'd collapsed, because she's already shaking in the video, her eyes rolling back in her head, and she's spasming on the floor while her classmates _laugh_. They laugh and cheer, and she can vaguely hear someone calling to take bets on how long it'd take her this time, and she really has no idea what they mean. Then she notices the dark stain spreading on her pants, cheers and exclamations of 'gross' and 'she did it again!' echoing as soon as the others realise.

Erica hears the laughter, even as the teacher rushes over to help her, to get someone to call the nurse - _an ambulance, something!_ \- and she vaguely recognises Stiles and Scott in the background, calling Mrs. McCall. She wonders if they had been laughing too.

She hates herself for it, but as soon as the video finishes, she presses play again. By the time her exhaustion truly takes her over, the video has nearly 300 hits. As she falls asleep, Erica decides that she doesn't want a camera phone anymore, and photography is the stupidest thing anyone's ever thought of _ever_.

When she wakes up in the morning, it's almost 11am, and her parents have already called the school to say she's staying home sick. They've gone to work for the day, left notes of positivity and assurances on both the kitchen bench and fridge, things that don't really ring true after she's seen that video almost 200 times. Erica feels disconnected from everything as she gets a bowl of cereal and pours a glass of juice. She flips through one of the junk catalogues that's collecting on the kitchen table, listless and bored and hating that she has this medical condition.

Her eyes widen slightly when she sees a blonde woman with perfect curls and a curvy body, looking absolutely _amazing_ in a corset and bra ensemble, her face wide and smiling and confident. _That could be me_ , Erica thinks, _I bet she was never teased and laughed at in school_.

Erica has her own bank account, gets her allowance for doing chores, and there's not much in there, but it's not like she does anything or have friends to go out with anyway, so Erica orders a turquoise coloured bra, a tight shirt and corset ensemble, and a leather skirt. She might never wear them, might never have a chance to, but Erica doesn't care.

She goes to school, ignores the snickers of laughter, the one look she wants that bypasses her completely in favour of a red-headed girl, and thinks about her package in the mail. She has to go to the post office to pick them up, catches the bus and lies to her mother when she tells her that she's going out with a friend and will be home late. Her mother congratulates her, doesn't seem at all suspicious about the lie, and Erica doesn't know whether to feel excited or nauseous. Maybe a little of both.

She goes to the local recreational centre - it has an ice rink and a gym, which is about as recreational as Beacon Hills gets - because she knows that they have larger changing rooms and she probably won't even see anyone from school. They'll all be at the mall or out with friends, and the rec centre isn't as popular as their management might have hoped. Still, Erica's heart is pounding as she walks in with a nod to the guy behind the counter, as if she does this every day, and heads straight for the women's change rooms. She forces herself to take a few deep breaths, waiting in the toilet cubicle with sweaty palms as she waits for the door to finally close and the last person to leave.

Setting the box down on the toilet lid, Erica opens it, trying not to curse or make too much noise as the packing tape snags one of her bitten fingernails. Finally, the box is open, everything packaged individually, and her hands tremble slightly in a reverent way as she touches her brand new clothes. She brushes her hair back, shoves it in a messy bun, and in the small enclosed space, strips down to her knickers. Erica puts the skirt, bra and shirt on fine (the shirt's a little tight, but she figures it'll be okay with the corset), and while she struggles a bit with the corset, she is dressed in under fifteen minutes. She holds her breath, listens to make sure she's alone, and peeks out from the small slit in the cubicle door before she unlocks it and steps out.

She looks... well, a little unkempt because her hair never seems to do what she wants, and she can't get rid of her pimples, and she still doesn't know how to use makeup ... but overall? Erica thinks she looks pretty damn hot. She doesn't look close to the model in the catalogue, but she's pretty sure that she could get at least a few double-takes and the attention of one person in particular with this outfit. Erica smiles at herself in the mirror, and then slips back into the cubicle to get dressed into her everyday clothes before heading home.

Even though she hides the clothes in her wardrobe, away from her parents, Erica still knows that they're there. It gives her a small thrill when she thinks of the tight leather, the bright bra, the way it made her feel even a little bit sexy. It's like those clothes are her secret weapon, her super power. Erica hopes that one day, she'll be well enough to wear them, maybe even risk wearing the outfit outside of her room. Just for a day, just to see what it feels like to be pretty and confident and normal and _wanted_. Yeah, that'd be nice.

...

The end.

Thanks for reading!


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